Today we launched the limited beta of IntelliContact v4.0.
We’re gearing up for the full launch on August 1st. We had a little
over 360 people sign up for the beta, which runs through June 30th.
We are rapidly receiving feedback on the re-designed interface! It’s amazing. I’ll
keep everyone posted on the progress as we move closer to the launch of v4.0 on
August 1st.
It’s no secret that we are currently redesigning our user
interface. Our developers, designers, and the rest of the team have been hard
at work since January. It has been a very interesting process and I’ll be sharing much more
as we near the launch later this summer. One of the primary reasons we decided to
redesign our user interface was the input we have received from our customers. We began seeing trends with many asking the same questions and complaining with
identical issues. Add to it the fact that little thought had
been placed on usability…..Yep, it was time to take action.
So as I mentioned our team has been working for months and this week we put
together a few focus groups and invited several customers to come in and
provide feedback on our work thus far. It was an interesting experience. Being
a web-based company we sit in front our computers each day working on the
latest projects, gathered around a table for an afternoon meeting, and/or
answering emails and phone calls. Rarely do we get a chance to sit down face-to-face
with our users and talk about IntelliContact and their experience using the
application. It was wonderful to hear firsthand their frustrations with the
current interface and listening to their input on how a certain task could be
made easier. We took a lot of notes, received very positive feedback on our
work thus far, and we’re even more excited about the launch! Be sure to stay tuned as I’ll be sharing screenshots, more information on the redesign process, and lessons learned.
Google has just released a web-based calendar. It has a very clean interface and is a cinch to use. So not only does Google know my history, but now they also know my future…
It can be confusing when comparing bitmap and vector and deciding when to use each. The confusion is even greater when we get into icon design. Vector images typically scale without losing their clarity where bitmaps become pixelized if we significantly increase their size. So you’d think that making icons of various sizes should be done using vector images, right? No. The gang over at Firewheel Design have provided a great article on breaking down the differences in bitmaps and vectors and why you cannot simply use vectors for icon design and scale them to any size you wish. Check it out!
Email marketing is about to get a whole lot easier (and attractive too!)
A new ‘face’ for IntelliContact is coming this summer.
Stay tuned - more screen shots to come.
I refer to these three as “The Bermuda Triangle” because I’m
completely lost. Many designers use Macs, most designers who have Macs use
Adobe’s software, and most are looking for improved performance from their
machine.
I think it’s awesome that Apple has decided to place Intel’s
chips in their machines. Apple has hyped that they are now two to four times
faster. Woohoo! So now you can work in multiple applications within Adobe’s
Creative Suite 2 and reap the benefits of this speed? Nope. Adobe Creative
Suite 2 will not work properly with the new Macs that contain the Intel chip
and Adobe does not plan to release a new universal version of Creative Suite 2.
So Mac users who wish to benefit from this increased performance and who use
Adobe products must now wait until the release of Creative Suite 3. Creative
cycle of every 18-24 months, we’re looking at late 2006 to early 2007 until the
release of Creative Suite 3. We’re talking about three major players in
technology, could they not work out something?
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for clean, elegant, and
simple applications, but come on del.icio.us, I need more graphic design! So I’ve
taken the liberty to make a few modifications of my own. Here’s the result of a
quick “revision” (please click to enlarge):
The pink highlighting used to show the popularity of
links is annoying. When a link is very popular the highlighting is a dark shade
of pink and you can barely read the text beneath. Here’s a screenshot:
Instead, what if an icon was designated for the popularity
of a link, like this:
It’s a small thing, but very annoying.
I could go on and on breaking down the pages, but overall I just wish the interface was much more visually appealing.
Come on del.icio.us, please make your user interface more
attractive!
Here’s my top five web/graphic designers by category.
These guys are good.
37 Signals
User Interface Design
SimpleBits
Web Design/User Interface Design
three.eight.one
Graphic and Web Design
HicksDesign
Logo/Branding/Graphic Design
Icon Factory
Icon Design
This week I completed Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to improve the usability of their website or software application. I especially like his concept of "The Reservoir of Goodwill", where visitors to your site enter with a full reservoir and each time they run into a problem it is lowered. Once this reservoir is empty they will leave. I think this is a great way to think about usability and something to keep in mind when designing/re-designing your website.
Overall, I appreciate the many screenshots throughout the book displaying the correct and incorrect ways to optimize your website for usability and Chapter 9: Usability testing on 10 cents a day is worth the price of the entire book.
Today I received my Free the Genie cards from Idea Champions. The "deck" contains 55 cards that are designed to, as they put it,
"Unlock the imagination,
Inspire quantum leaps, Awaken creativity, Spark insights and ahas!, Unleash genius, Free up stuck energy, Boost motivation, Increase adaptability, Diffuse doubt and fear, Accelerate change, Enhance collaboration, Build momentum, Close the gap between thought and action".
So I drew a card and it stated:
"Be a Beginner - What enhancements or simplification to your idea would please a child? What would a kid’s version of your product or service look like?"
I thought this was a great way to look at usability, in my case, for web applications. So I thought a little more about "….kid friendly web apps". Sounds a little strange, yes. But this really forces you to focus on the critical elements for making a user-friendly application. Think about visual cues such as colors, sizes of elements (buttons, text, etc), and keeping the interface uncluttered as to not distract the user from the task that was meant to be completed within a given screen. Just a five minute brainstorming session I thought I’d share.